English second this time

Thailande…une etape pas prevue au programme mais après avoir galeré dans notre premier trajet en bus on a jugé plus judicieux de prendre l'avion,cette fois destination Bangkok,couper donc par la Thailande en vue de rejoindre Laos! Avion pris on arrive a l'aeroport de Bangkok et lá meme emmerveillement ,c'est splendide ,flambant neuf et le metro vous amenant en ville est une version ameliorer des vehicules de Men In Black!

Impressionant!

Bref après avoir papoter avec un anglais dans l'aeroport nous allons vers le quartier sensé etre le quartier qui bouge Sukovit! Pas de booking ni rien du coup on tourne en rond pendant des heures afin de trouver le gite et le couvert!

Après avoir le tour, par detours, de Bangkok et demander notre chemin et conseils aux visages pales des environs on atteri dans une merveilleuse Guest house ! le fin du fin pour pas trop chere!Jolie chose au milieu des rues bondées ,boisée et tout, notre chambre est mignone et comfortable plus le top du top…La douche est sur le balcon,protégée de la vue des passants par quelques planches en bois.En plus de vous doucher et de vous dorer la pillule en meme temps , elle en réveillerai Presque vos penchants exibitioniste! J'ai adoré…bien entendu!On Descend pour le diner…Un festival de saveur !Rien que pour ca la Thailande est fantastique ! et c'est bon partout ,du mec qui vends ses friteries dans la rue au resto 3 maccarons …

On y passe la nuit et le lendemain on decolle.Train en debut d'aprem direction Nong Khai a la frontiere du Laos avec une etape a Ayudhaya une ville a temple on s'arrete pour quelques heures histoire de prendre des jolies photos! On reprend le train debut de soirée,train-couchette! Super encore train propre ,couchette confortable personne ne nous a voler nos affaires on est content!

A la sortie du train on rencontre Vicky cette grande rousse made in Hollande qui nous saute dessus pour nous proposer de partger un touk touk! Parfait pas de booking pour un hotel donc on la suit ou elle va…une petite guest house au bord du Mekong avec des super petits bingalo facon bamboo!la douche ( pas que je fasse une fixette sur les douches ein! )est super ,l'eau tombe directement sur des petits cailloux marrons au sol en connexion avec la nature, tu te sens comme Moogli !le top…

Deux jours de repos et de confort ou on se balade se fait masser ,pedicures pour les filles,visites de parc aux sculptures fofolles .On a appris a connaitre Vicky aussi rentre-dedans et enthousiaste , un joli personnage!

Voila pour la Thailande c'est fait (vitefait mais bien fait ) on plus qu'a passer le pont de l'amitié surplombant le Mekong pour se retrouver au Laos!!

A Laos avec Tubing en perspective… haha a bon entendeur santé!

So what was supposed to be a small stop over for convenience turned out to be an amazing place which I'm sure we'll return to one day!

Arriving in Bangkok at night-time, we took the advice of an Englishman and headed to the district of Sukhumvite (on amazing trains that put even KL to shame), where there are girls on every corner but apparently this is the place popular for travellers. What I think our English friend failed to realise is that 5 star hotels isn't the travel we're looking for, but never mind. After some advice from some lovely travellers we get in the taxi and promptly forget the name of the district, so after driving in circles for ages, trying to communicate in 2 different languages, we finally just get out of the cab and find some more friendly travellers for advice. They send us to a beautiful hostel, with a shower on the balcony and a beautiful clean bed! We had an amazing dinner - Thai food in Australia is nothing compared to Thai food in Thailand, and then a great sleep after a big day.

The following day we decide to go to Ayutthaya on our way to Nong Khai (which is on the border of Thailand and Laos) to see some temples. Luckily we only have small bags! The train ride there shows us the devastation that the floods, going since July and still such a huge problem. After a long time of floods out of the window, we started to worry that Ayutthaya might be underwater, but luckily the water cleared just before!! We arrive in Ayutthaya and get a tuk-tuk tour of the temples, which are amazing very different from those in Cambodia which is so close by! The highlight of the temples was definitely the sleeping Buddha, but you can still see the damage caused by the floods on the statue.

After a dinner, we get back on the sleeper train to Nong Khai, which is amazingly comfortable - I (Leesa) even slept a bit. We arrive in Nong Khai relatively rested and luckily meet red-haired Dutch girl Vicky on our way out of the train who, unlike us, has a plan, so we follow her to a beautiful hostel on the Mekong where we got a nice bungalow with another amazing outdoor shower on the rocks for a really reasonable price! We spent the day relaxing mostly, Vicky and Leesa got manicures and pedicures while Etienne got a foot massage. The girls at the salon were so nice and we spent the time both jealous of each other's skin. It's crazy how people here want to be white when in Australia everyone wants to be tanned! Makes you appreciate what you have is really special to some people. After a strenuous day of manicures and massages we headed on a cruise of the Mekong for sunset, which was beautiful, followed by an amazing dinner on the river. I want to move to Thailand just for the food, it's just amazing, there's nothing like it! After some serious games of UNO with Vicky, we went to bed.

Our last day in Thailand we went to the Salakaeoku sculpture park, which, despite it's lack of history was one of the most fascinating things we've seen! Think a Laos version of Alice in Wonderland made in Thailand. Crazy. We had a great time there posing with the statues, and after a farewell to our new friend (who we hope to see in Amsterdam), we headed over the friendship bridge to Laos for the next step of our adventure!